


before, middle, and after

by Shadowlit



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jim whump, Ships aren't the main focus, Spoilers for Season 2, Updates Sporadically, What am I doing, mostly jim-focused cause i will hurt my favorite character you can't stop me, next update might be tomorrow, or in a week, or in half a year, or when season 3/3 below comes out, this turned into accidentally having a plot oops, was supposed to be a oneshot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-02-26 02:13:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowlit/pseuds/Shadowlit
Summary: Like every story, Jim's venture into the Darklands has a beginning, middle, and end.





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> this whole thing is honestly just really self-indulgent because i've fallen straight into the trollhunters fandom and can't get out. Help.  
> i'm just posting this first so I get some incentive to actually write the rest. thanks for reading. comments and kudos are EXTREMELY appreciated. this might be a lot longer than what i was originally intending it to be (a ~5000 word three chapter fic)   
> **updates will be random since i'm trying to write longer chapters but keeping up with school and all that is hard**  
>  tumblr: shadowfire04.tumblr.com

-Before-  
Jim stands before the shattered Killahead Bridge, wearing the Eclipse armor and holding the amulet's shell for Daylight in his hand.  
There's a part of him that's screaming that _this is a terrible idea, he's going to **die in the darklands**_ but that part is drowned out by grief.  
The sound of his friends, banging on the doors, begging for him to not do this, that he _promised_ they'd go together, isn't enough to change his mind. The memories of Aaarrrrggh!!! float in his head, too much and not enough at the same time.  
Jim stops and looks at the doors. If he waits just a minute longer, his friends will get in. They can stop him.

He can't let that happen. He **won't** let that happen.

Because he's going to finish the fight. _Alone._

He knows already as by heart how much this is going to hurt them. He knows that if he does return (and who is he kidding, he's not going to get back, he should stop here) there will be cracks in their bonds, in this found family. That too will be his fault.

He also knows that he can't bear the grief of someone else dying because of something he's done. The burden of a Trollhunter was never meant to be shared with others. The danger and enemies all aimed at him were never supposed to be spread out among other people, especially not the people you care about. Even through all his friends' courage and help in toppling monsters, in the end, he still has to finish the fight. And this is the end.

He puts the amulet shell into the Keystone. Killahead Bridge rebuilds itself under Merlin's power. The portal activates in a flash of cyan blue and black, a swirling vortex leading straight to the final battle.

Jim looks over his shoulder and his last memory of the world of humans and trolls is his three friends racing down the steps of the vault, expressions of terror and grief, reaching out to pull him back from the edge.

There should be four there, but if there were four then he wouldn't be doing this.

His last words before vanishing are an, "I'm sorry," in a futile attempt to comfort them. And to tell them the truth, even though frankly anything he could say before doing something like this wouldn't change anything.  
(And yet how could he say even an apology, when he's already hurt them _more_ than any words could describe?)

A breath. The world starts moving in slow motion.  
Jim takes a step forward, and falls.


	2. middle

Jim wakes up suddenly and abruptly. He's tense- of course, he would be in the troll equivalent of hell- but for once, there's nothing there. The last two times, there were, and he was thrust instantly into another fight for his life. He's covered in scratches, bruises, and fading wounds, and wielding Eclipse has gotten harder and harder every day. The weight on his chest and the pain littered across his whole body from the waking nightmare his life's become doesn't help the matter either.

He sighs and shifts to a sitting position. His time in the Darklands has worn his nerves down until he's jumping at shadows, always afraid of what might be hiding there. The first rule of trollhunting and he's gotten it covered so completely he doesn't even have to remember that he should be afraid. He always is.

There's a faint screech of a Nyarlagroth somewhere in the distance, and Jim flinches out of sheer habit. He's fought (read: evaded) those things too many times to count, and sound travels...oddly, to say the least, here. It echoes, it makes strange twists and turns until something you hear might be ten miles away or on the other side of the wall.  


In his week or so here Jim's seen and fought a lot of things. Participated in a battle, fought a changeling/hellheeti half-blood, saw Gumm-Gumms walking upside down, been eaten twice by a Nyalragroth.

There wasn't any point in dwelling on those things, especially when there wasn't much he could have done about it. Who knew Gunmar had such a massive horde hidden here? One stalking had been bad enough. He couldn't imagine possibly being able to fight off hundreds. (He carefully avoids thinking about his friends in this moment of introspection. He knows all too well the heartache that waits there. )  
Even so, that aching hollowness that weighs on his chest like the world's sitting on it gets just that little bit heavier.  


Suddenly, his stomach grumbles, an angry reminder that he's human and needs to eat. Which means actually getting up.  
Which means dodging more Nyalragroths, Gumm-Gumms, and various other monsters. Ugh. He is way too tired for any of this, and he knows that he's going to regret this decision later, but he opts to just sleep instead of looking for food or the changeling nursery.

Jim slumps back onto the cold green stone and sighs again (because of course he's keeping count). He closes his eyes and is just about to fall asleep when a small piece of flint falls from somewhere and lands just outside the little alcove he's chosen as "home".

He's on his feet in less than a second and Eclipse appears with a muted red flash in his hand. Adrenaline floods his mouth with its bitter taste and fills his blood with strength, and Jim begins quietly backing further into the dark cave in hopes to evade or ambush whatever creature is in here. He ducks behind a large piece of black rock as claws scrape and tap their way further towards him.  


It doesn't sound like a Gumm-Gumm, but it also doesn't sound entirely like a Stalkling, either. There isn't that slow slithery sound of dry scale scraping against cold stone,so he has no idea what this is. It can't be the other three types of monsters he's seen, because two of them don't have physical claws, and one is far too big to even fit in here. In the end, all Jim can really figure out is that it has four legs with claws, isn't a stalkling, and doesn't seem to be actively hunting him. Probably. Who knows what it might be doing.  


The sounds get closer. Jim shifts his position into a crouch and with a bit of will, drains the glowing red from his armor and sword until he's completely invisible.

The sounds stop.

Jim freezes in place.

He stays there for over a minute before finally shifting into a crouch, wincing slightly as his armor clanks.  
There's a small fissure in the black slab he's hiding behind, and he carefully peeks his eye through it.

There's nothing there.

He breathes out and relaxes slightly. It must have left.

Something touches his shoulder, and Jim whips around and screams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was supposed to be a FUCKING ONESHOT NOT THIS MONSTROSITY DAMMIT  
> that thing that jim meets is supposed to be an oc but i decided let's have more fun and leave a cliffhanger than actually write in a meeting cause i'm lazy. there has to be more monsters in the darklands than antramonstrums, nyalragroths, helheetis, and stalklings right? yeah  
> WARNING: THIS FIC MAY NOT UPDATE FOR ANOTHER MONTH OR TWO BECAUSE LIFE IS REALLY HECTIC FOR ME RIGHT NOW. APPLYING FOR HIGH SCHOOL WHILE JUGGLING MY HOMEWORKS AND EXTRACURRICULARS IS HARD, SO I MIGHT NOT FIND MUCH TIME TO WORK ON THIS.


End file.
